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[1990-04-13-WWF/AJPW Summit] Randy Savage vs Genichiro Tenryu


Loss

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  • 1 month later...

Just with the two goading each other, this is awesome before the match even starts. This was super fun. I love how true to themselves Savage and Sherri are here, not changing even a slight thing about their WWF style, and the audience eating it all up. Savage takes a few big bumps, and Tenryu is more than happy to work an American-style face/heel match. Really fun colliding of worlds.

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Great to see Tenryu being drawn into a WWF Sportz Entertainment match in the face of what's to come with Hogan later. Sherri is working for about 6 outside, getting into arguments with Tenryu, the crowd, the AJPW officials, and everyone else within earshot. She also has a tremendous moment where she's putting her high heels back on after clocking Tenryu with one, and she flashes a ridiculously insincerely innocent smile and wave at Kyohei Wada as she does so.

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I've always loved this for the reasons you guys have already stated. It's a performance that speaks well for both guys in historical terms -- Savage because his act could get over in any setting, Tenryu because he could seamlessly fit into his opponent's show. I also have to give props to the crowd for rolling right along with it, even though it wasn't typical AJPW.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Agree that it is just amazing that this match took place and what they did together worked so well for the audience they were performing in front of. Sherri was exceptionally great riling up the crowd throughout the entire match. 1990 hasn't had as many all start 5 star match classics as in other years so far, but the high average of fun wrestling has definitely been abundant and this match epitomizes that.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I wouldn't call this a great match, but it is super fun. Savage and Tenryu have styles that complement each other perfectly and work really well in a dome setting. One thing I'm not a fan of is Sherri's involvement. It's like Tully Blanchard said. When managers directly interfere in a match, it puts the heat on them and not the heels they're managing. Still, the spot where she clocks Tenryu with her shoe and he sells it like a Jumbo lariat always puts a smile on my face.

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Macho and Sherri go the wrong direction to the ring and have security chase after them. Savage getting lots of heat. Big chop take down by Tenryu. Sherri doing lots of distracting. Savage and Sherri getting into it with people ring side. Savage seems to be enjoying himself. Tenryu does a big sell job for Sherri by falling over the railing. Savage in control until he hurts his knee and immediately gets put away by Tenryu. Out of nowhere finish but still a fun match.

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I saw this match listed on the Yearbook and instantly circled this as something I wanted to watch. I was not disappointed at all. Fun little match. Savage works his ass off and Tenryu fits in with the WWF style better than I'd have thought. This makes me wonder what an extended Tenryu run in the WWF would have looked like after SWS went down. Probably would have been a waste of his career, but there's still a better than 20% chance it would have been pretty fun, right?

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Excellent. This was loads of fun. Too bad it lasted only 10 minutes. “Macho King” Randy Savage was accompanied by “Queen” Sensational Sherri. They were all in WWF-mode, which was a great contrast to Tenryu’s serious All Japan style. Tenryu really adapted well to the WWF style though. Savage was as intense as ever and Sherri played her part in the match perfectly. She was arguing with everyone in sight. Tenryu was all business and proved how versatile he could be. The crowd in the Tokyo Egg Dome was totally behind Tenryu. Great crowd heat. It was great to see how over Savage and Sherri were here. Other than Liger vs. Sano, I think this has been the most enjoyable match on the set so far.

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  • 1 year later...

Couldn't possibly skip on this. I love Tenryu's look at bemusement at seeing Macho and Sherri in front of him. It's like the circus has come to town.

 

He slaps the shit out of Savage to start and is fired up like mad.

 

Amazing to see how much Sherri got this Japanese crowd riled up. And Savage was tremendous in this setting.

 

This match has got to be a feather in the caps of both guys. It's definitely been on of the ones I've enjoyed most from 1990 so far.

 

B+, 5 minutes more and it would be threatening to go higher. Loved it. Sherri was also great here.

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  • 3 months later...

I never thought this would be as good as it was. Tenryu's reaction to seeing the King and Queen's entrance was classic, as was Sherri fighting with everyone she could. The match itself was excellent too, mainly because Tenryu decided to work it Savage's way instead of insisting on being his normal self. (It would have been just as good if Randy had decided to work All-Japan style too, but that clearly wasn't happening on one of Vince's shows).

 

Tenryu would have been quite a good babyface in the WWF had he wanted to be, as this match shows. Unfortunately, they'd have probably made him the stereotypical Japanese salt-throwing heel instead, complete with Fuji as manager.

 

The finish was a bit strange, but they probably wanted to protect Randy a bit, since the match was fully covered by the Apter mags for North American consumption. Sherri's tantrum at the end was classic. By the way, was that Jumbo she got in the face of about halfway through?

 

I take nothing Tully says about managers seriously. Outside interference is one of the reasons managers even exist in the first place, and he's just pissed off that he was ever put with any; he thought he could draw all the heat he needed by himself, even though the promoters clearly didn't. As The Brain himself once told Rick Rude (I think): "If Vince thought you could draw heat without me, he'd have never put you with me in the first place." He should feel blessed that he was ever paired with the likes of JJ Dillon and Heenan.

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  • 1 year later...

The dome EXPLODES when Tenryus music hits and doesn't let up. What a cool contrast with the Hogan/Hansen match. Here Macho an Sherri don't change anything an Tenryu works an American style compared to Hogan working the more Japanese style. Tenryu getting fired up and throwing gestures was awesome. Tons of fun and the crowd was having a blast the whole time.

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  • 3 months later...

This was a dream match for me. I had not seen this until it popped up on the set for me, and I actually didn't even know it had taken place. This was so much fun. I loved seeing Tenryu tear into Savage with the multiple chops. Seeing Savage (w/ Sherri) in this setting vs Tenryu was a blast. I'll definitely be coming back to this one. Loved it.

 

I'm coming back to add this note - Loss ranked this #466 on his top 500 matches of the 90s. The listing can be found here:

 

placetobenation.com/countdown-top-500-matches-of-the-90s-450-401/

 

Definitely a worthy addition to the list, and one of my personal favorite matches of 1990.

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  • 5 months later...
  • 1 month later...

"Macho King" Randy Savage vs Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 4/13/90

 

I have been meaning to watch this for years and good God did it deliver in spades. Savage was getting nuclear heat from the Dome! Which is impressive because we all know how tough Dome crowds can be. Savage and Sherri showed up in all their heel glory and heel I'd say they turned it up to 11 for this match. Tenryu is such a great asskicker that he was super over with Dome crowd. The Dome erupted for his entrance for those rapid fire chops. Savage was getting massive heel heat just from powdering to avoid a chop. Sherri worked overtime constantly giving Macho Man opportunities to turn the match in his favor. He finally did on the outside with a high knee to the back and then throwing Tenryu into announce table drawing big time heel heat. From there, it was just great Macho Man heat segment choking, clawing, Sherri interference, double axehandles galore. He was just punishing Tenryu nothing fancy, targeting throat and just being a dick. Big elbow only gets two and a top rope crossbody (a new Macho move) hurts his knee. He gets up gingerly and Tenryu pounces with enziguiri and then a powerbomb to win. My only complaint which is the common one that this was way too short and finish felt abrupt. So glad this match exists. Savage shows his act can get over anywhere and Tenryu had no problem working in his world. Just a super fun, summer blockbuster Dome style match with two very colorful characters (Savage & Sherri) and the stoic asskicker (Tenryu). ****

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  • 1 month later...
  • 5 months later...

This is the kind of match you watch when you want to remember why you love wrestling. Just watch Tenryu's face at the beginning, when Randy's all "come at me bro". Then when he does come after Savage, Randy acts like a chickenshit heel and runs out of the ring. That gets the crowd booing, which Sherri encourages by taunting them and even making obscene gestures.

 

Tenryu's expressions are great all throughout. One of my favorites is when Sherri clobbers him with a running forearm to the back. He turns around, with a priceless "WTF?" look.

 

God, I love this match.

 

PS Does anyone else feel that Savage looks like Fred "Ogre" Palowakski here? It's no wonder he took to wearing hats and shades.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1990-04-13-WWF/AJPW Summit] Randy Savage vs Genichiro Tenryu
  • 1 year later...

I've always loved how good of a job Savage and Sherri did at working their shtick in front of the Tokyo Dome crowd and, moreso, how well Tenryu fit into a WWF style match. The crowd is nuclear and while the powerbomb at the end is super safe, it was cool seeing Savage take one because I don't recall him taking many. The entire match is great and while they rematched in SWS and it was good, this match was far better. One of the most underrated Tokyo Dome matches of all time, probably in my top 20. ****3/4

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